Taco Tuesday
by galianogangster
Summary: Mal gets a whole lot more than she bargained for when she orders two quesadillas at lunch.
1. Chapter 1

Hot, sticky barbecue sauce splatters onto Mal's hand as she places a heap of chicken wings onto her plate. She grimaces at the contact and quickly brings her skin to her lips to eliminate the mess. The tang of the sauce makes her moan softly, and she glances around nervously to ensure no one else had to hear that. She couldn't help it; the sauce was just so good. Maybe she's hungrier than she thought. Glancing down at her plate of wings, she wishes she had taken more. However, the lunch rush that had lined up after her arrival made that option unwelcoming. She scowls at her misfortune. Her eyes scan the various lunch stations until she spots the new allergen friendly food booth. Straight out of a stereotype, a scrawny looking, visually impaired boy waits in line. The menu reads various lackluster options until 'gluten free beef and cheese quesadilla' sparks her interest. Gluten free sounds a hell of a lot better than spending twenty more minutes in line waiting for more wings. A sigh escapes her lips as she trudges over to the mostly barren station.

The boy's features light up as she approaches. She avoids his eyes and examines his plate instead. Two appetizing slices of the very quesadilla she came here for greet her. "Miss? What can I get for you?" a young man, presumably the cook, asks her. Mal's eyes flick to the empty pan labeled 'quesadillas' and she emits a very intelligent sounding 'uhhhh'

"I'll just have two quesadillas," she finishes, glancing at the boy's plate for reference. The cook nods and turns to the counter behind him. As soon as he's gone, the small boy seeks to fill the void.

"It's so nice that our school has an allergen friendly selection now," he muses. Mal looks at everything but him. "It's so hard to find decent gluten free food, but Auradon sure knows what it's doing!" he compliments with a wistful sigh, and Mal's eyebrows raise. She wishes she could magically make him disappear. What's taking so long anyway? She casually stretches her neck and sees the quesadillas cooking on a tiny grill. It looks like they're making enough to fill the empty pan as well. Great. Who knows how long she'll be here. A hand in her peripheral catches her attention. She looks at it with disbelief, and doesn't move to take it. Apparently, the boy had introduced himself. She'd ask him to repeat his name, but she really doesn't give a damn what it is. His dopey expression softens her a tad, so she offers her name in consolation. "Nice to meet you, Mal!" he exclaims. "It's always helpful to know your fellow GFs," he says with a smile and an obnoxiously dramatic wink. Mal's eyebrows furrow, and she finally looks at him.

"GFs?" she inquires.

"Gluten-frees!" he clarifies, much too happily for before noon.

"I'm not-" Mal starts, but the cook suddenly reappears and cuts her off with two giant quesadillas on a warm plate. Her mouth drops in surprise. When she had asked for two quesadillas she thought they would be in slices, like the ones on the boy's plate beside her. What the hell was she going to do with two entire quesadillas?! She can't even form coherent words at this point, so she mechanically walks to her usual booth.

She slides into the seat with just as distant of an expression on her face as when she received the food. Two pairs of brown eyes immediately find her meal as the plates clink against the table. Her best friends, Jay and Carlos, had been arguing before her arrival, but they're sure quiet now. Their mouths are agape and practically drooling over her plate of wings. There's already sauce all over their hands and faces, so they must have enjoyed their own wings before she arrived. Noticing their apparent lack of food, she limply pushes the plate of wings to their side of the booth. Immediately, the boys are shoving each other to claim as many wings as they can for themselves.

"Thanks, Mal" Carlos says through a mouthful of food. "We didn't grab enough wings, so we thought we'd wait for the line to get shorter," he finishes.

"You know how it is; those plates are just too small. It's like they don't even want us to eat!" Jay pitches in, wing unceremoniously hanging out of his mouth. Watching the two boys voraciously devour her plate of wings gives her an inkling as to why that attitude may resonate with the cooks. Her eyes glaze over as she calculates just how long she's going to have to spend in the cafeteria to finish the quesadillas.

"Damn, Mal. Two quesadillas is a lot, even for me!" Jay comments. "You must be hungry!"

"I thought they were in slices!" she growls at the offending food. Maybe if she glares hard enough at them they'll just shrink.

Damn that stupid nerd for making her think the quesadillas were pre-sliced. Damn Auradon and its zero food waste policy. Damn Ben for convincing her to sign the clean plate club board. Damn her for getting soft and giving a shit in the first place. Damn, who the hell is that?

Bright blue quickly catches her attention against the dull colors of the overflow seating area. The girl is standing and leaning on the booth in front of them, slightly bent over and amicably chatting with its inhabitants. The chatting is audible, but unintelligible to Mal because it's mostly in Spanish. The blue haired girl is donning a surprising amount of leather for Auradon and looks like she would fit right in with Mal and the boys apart from the fact that she's also twinkling with girly accessories and perched in unreasonably high heeled shoes. Mal finds her laugh just as endearing as her blinding smile. Jay looks over his shoulder to follow his friend's gaze.

"You have all that food and you still look so hungry," he teases. The noise that breaks out of Carlos is something akin to a honk, and Mal would have laughed if she weren't so embarrassed about being caught staring. Carlos finished his wing and also turns around to catch sight of whatever Mal was so focused on.

"Don't look!" Mal whispers a little loudly, but it's too late. She hangs her head and suddenly her plate is very interesting. To make matters worse, it appears Carlos is talking to the inhabitants of other booth. She finally bites into one of the quesadillas to act casual, and her eyes roll back into her head a little at the taste. At least they're delicious. When Carlos turns back around there's a wide, sauce-covered smile gracing his face.

"That's Evie, she just moved here. She's in my Modern Fashion and Design class," he casually informs his friends. The topic of conversation finally leaves the other booth and heads towards the cafeteria. She catches Mal's eye right as the latter girl takes a huge bite into her quesadilla. Red-stained lips quirk at the sight as she walks by, and Mal wants to crawl under the booth and die. She hadn't even said anything to this girl yet, and she's already embarrassing herself.

It seems like Evie passes by Mal's booth much too often for an activity that most people remain seated for. She doesn't even have plates or silverware in her hands, so Mal can only imagine what she's doing on each trip. Each time she passes, Mal tries to refrain from staring at the girl, but it's hard when she's so stunning and so often in her field of view. With every pass by, a waft of apple cinnamon fills Mal's lungs and kills her brain cells. She would even bet her favorite leather jacket that the girl knows what she's doing as her hand unnecessarily grasps the back of the booth, right behind Mal, as she rounds the corner. As usual, the boys remain ignorant, lost in their heated conversation about the last tourney match. Mal's only got half a quesadilla left, but her body feels like it may actually pop at the seams at this point. Suddenly, the boys rise from their seats and shuffle out of the booth, plates in hand.

"See you later, Mal!" Carlos says, and Jay offers her a head nod. She musters up a half-genuine smile for them before they take their leave. A sigh escapes her lips as she stares down the rest of her food.

"I will finish you," she sternly tells the quesadilla. "Eventually," she adds, much less intimidatingly. Her hands search around in her backpack momentarily before finding her sketchbook. She removes a pencil from her jacket pocket and leans against the wall, searching for victims. The drawing class she's enrolled in requires her to draw 100 different people from life before the end of the semester, and Mal figures it's as good of a time as any to work on it. She manages to complete five sketches before blue-painted nails on her table tear her out of her drawing zone.

"Hi," easily escapes smiling red lips. The soft clattering of Mal's pencil rolling off the seat and hitting the floor feels much too loud in the otherwise noisy venue.

"Hi," Mal breathes back.

"I'm Evie," the girl introduces with a raspy voice and a suave smile.

"I know," falls out of Mal's mouth before she can stop it. Her eyes squeeze shut, hoping that if she can't see the situation it didn't really happen.

"Oh no, am I making a name for myself around here already?" Evie laughs lowly and gracefully slides into the now empty seat across from Mal.

"No!" Mal answers quickly. "Well, not that I know of, but Carlos told me about you; he's in your fashion class," she rants. It takes Evie a while to put a face to the name.

"Oh yeah, Carlos. He's the one that was wearing more food than he ate, right?" she asks playfully. To that, Mal lets out an honest chuckle.

"Probably. But that could have been Jay, too. Can't take them anywhere," she muses. Her best friends were irrevocably uncouth boys, but they were her uncouth boys. They had all grown up in the shady part of town, and their families had their fair share of issues. However, she could always count on her boys' loyalty, and she wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. Evie hums in response and eyes Mal's plate and the partial quesadilla laying on it.

"Good," she starts, and Mal's eyebrows furrow in confusion at the unexpected response. "You like Hispanic food?" Evie inquires, recalling the mountain that previously sat there. She appears to be asking casually, but there's something about the glint in her red-brown eyes and the tone of her voice that suggests more. Mal leans back against the wall and purposefully rakes her eyes appreciatively over the other girl's body.

"It's my favorite" she replies coolly, voice lower than normal. It's a lie, but it'll serve its purpose. A faint blush appears on Evie's cheeks, but her collected façade is otherwise intact. Mal smiles confidently in turn.

"It's taco Tuesday here tonight-two tacos for $1.50," Evie challenges. It's not framed as a question, and Mal gets the idea.

"Now that is just too good of a deal to pass up," she replies, holding Evie's gaze intensely.

"Good. I'll see you there then," Evie states, smoothly exiting the seat.  
"Oh, and," she adds before leaning back on the table. "You said it yourself; you can't take the boys," she husks. Mal's brain short circuits due to the close proximity of Evie's face and the generous view down her shirt, so she only nods dumbly in response. Even after the blue haired girl is gone, her scent lingers to further impede Mal's concentration. Eventually, she snaps out of her daydreams and is met with the taunting face of the last bit of quesadilla. Her appetite has returned enough for her to triumphantly finish the meal, throwing her napkin onto her plate with more force than necessary.

Two challenges accepted, one to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Mal feels like an idiot. When Evie had told her to come back to the cafeteria for Taco Tuesday she never asked the girl what time they were meeting. The overflow seating area where Mal, Jay, and Carlos sat every day for lunch turned into a sports lounge every night. As long as there wasn't a tourney game on, it was just about as classy as you could get on the Auradon campus. However, it's operating hours were between 6:30 pm and 11:30 pm. Mal has a huge window of time that Evie could have meant to meet, and she can't be expected to go right away and just sit there until the other girl arrives, however long that may take. That would be ridiculous.

Mal's boots stomp loudly on the stairs as she flies down to the first floor of her dormitory at approximately 6:25pm. She had spent longer than necessary staring at her reflection and touching up her simple makeup, and now she is in a hurry. Thank god for her impressive reflexes, because there is a takeout container flying into her hands before she can even register Jay yelling "Think fast!" She scowls at the warm box.

"I'm going out to eat," she states, walking to civilly return the food to the table her best friends are huddled at. They already have a video game all set up, and they were likely expecting to compete with Mal tonight.

"What?" Carlos asks, noodles hanging out of his mouth. His big, brown eyes get even bigger, and she swears this boy is a real puppy. She can see his heart breaking right in front of her face. Jay, on the other hand, is wearing a different expression.

"But we already got you Chinese," Jay bites, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Mal understands that their financial situation doesn't always allow for such a treat, but she doesn't have time to feel bad about it.

"Well you should have asked first," she counters before continuing her trek to the front door. "I'll eat it later," she adds more softly in assurance. She doesn't hear Jay's protest, quickly closing the door behind her. The brisk October wind nips at her face, and she hugs her worn leather jacket closer to her body as she increases her pace. She's survived colder temperatures in less, she reminds herself, and powers on to the destination.

She makes it to the cafeteria in 12 minutes flat and immediately scans the room. She lets out a breath as she spots a familiar head of blue in a booth towards the back of the room. Red-brown eyes meet green, and Evie's fingers dance in a flirty wave. In a few long strides, Mal is at the booth, and she quickly slides into the seat across from the other girl.

"Hey, glad you could make it," Evie husks with a smile, and Mal lets out a timid agreement. "I already ordered us a big plate of loaded nachos to share, I hope that's alright," Evie says, and Mal is so nervous that she's not sure if she wants to eat everything in sight or nothing at all. Taking in the girl in front of her, she decides on the former.

"Sure, yeah, of course, that's fine," she rambles, and Evie's lips quirk in clear amusement.

"I figured it was safe considering you said Hispanic food is your favorite," she chimes, a hint of challenge in her voice. Mal's hands feel a little damp as she balls her fists under the table and laughs nervously. "It's not totally authentic, but, it's the closest thing around. At least Auradon seems to make an effort to put some real, homey flavors into their dishes," Evie explains. Honestly, Mal is pretty lost, so she concentrates on appearing as though she understands. "Now, let's get some tacos!" Evie exclaims with a clap, eyebrows rising. Mal smiles suddenly and obediently follows blue to the taco bar.

The two busy themselves with fixing their tacos with various toppings. Mal restricts herself to two tacos for now, knowing she'd feel bad if she doesn't eat enough of the notably more expensive plate of nachos that Evie took the courtesy of buying for them.

When the girls make it back to their booth, the nachos are already there waiting for them. The plate rivals Jay's head in size, and 'loaded' is certainly not an understatement. Mal is not even sure she can see any chips, and there's food piled on the nachos that Mal can't even identify. Evie stares at it like she might just eat it all herself. Glancing down at her bland choice of taco toppings, she realizes she may be in trouble. Mal checks out Evie's plate in comparison and cocks her head.

"I didn't know you could get burritos for the same deal on Taco Tuesday," she wonders aloud. Immediately, she knows something is wrong because Evie looks like she might burst. Mal's face falls as she realizes the girl is trying her best not to laugh at her. Great. She's embarrassing herself already.

"Mal, these are soft shell tacos," Evie clarifies, smile wide. That smile would have given Mal butterflies if she didn't feel like jumping out the nearest window. She sighs in defeat and decides to drown her sorrow in her own tacos. The hard shell crunches loudly under her teeth, and the entire shell seems to shatter with the pressure. Mal does her best to catch the contents as they fall, but now her hands are covered in toppings. She doesn't have to look at Evie to know her amused expression is still intact. Mal sets what's left of her taco back on the plate and sits for a moment, eyes closed and chewing the bits of taco she managed to get into her mouth. She breathes through her nose and regains her composure. After a moment, she rises from her seat and walks over to the bathroom.

The cold water running over Mal's hands is grounding, and she finishes scrubbing the food remnants off of her hands and dries them. She sighs at her flushed reflection and exits the room. She grabs a fork on the way back to the booth, and Evie's worried face greets her when she gets back. "You okay?" she asks, hand quickly finding the other girl's in worry. Mal revels in the girl's soft, warm touch.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assures with a quick, faux smile. Evie smiles softly and keeps her hold on Mal's hand for a moment to show she is being genuine. As soon as she lets go, Mal picks up her newly acquired fork. The sudden sound of smashing shell makes Evie jump a little, and Mal continues pulverizing her tacos. Once satisfied with her work, she shovels up the pieces of taco and shoves a forkful into her mouth. Thankfully, she stays clean. A triumphant grin creeps across her face. Bitch ass tacos will not ruin Mal's date. Evie laughs hesitantly and continues picking off the mountain of nachos.

"So, what brings you to Auradon?" Mal asks before guiding more tacos into her mouth. Evie finishes her bite of nachos before answering.

"Well, my mom and I moved here from Columbia when I was little, so I decided to spend some time studying there to connect with my roots," she answers honestly. "It was an amazing experience, and I'm really glad I went.  
After I got back, Auradon just seemed like the best school near home. It has an amazing science program and offers some courses in fashion and design,"

"Oh, so you're a science nerd, huh?" Mal prods with a playful smile. Evie's cheeks darken slightly, but she smiles regardless.

"Yeah, you could say that," she admits, smiling down at the table.

"What branch are you interested in?" Mal wonders.

"Chemistry," is Evie's quick and easy reply. Mal can't help but be impressed. She recalls nearly failing her high school chemistry course due to the challenging material.

"So," she starts, head resting on her hand casually. Evie leans closer at the sudden change in Mal's demeanor. "You sensing any chemistry here?" she asks, voice serious but the faint hint of a grin hiding on her face. Evie barks out a laugh at the sheer immaturity of the come-on. She shakes her head incredulously.

"Well, enzymes in our saliva are catalyzing the breakdown of the chemical bonds in our food so that our body can-" she begins, but Mal quickly stops her with raised eyebrows and a hand in front of her face.

"Whoa, whoa!" Mal alerts. "Forget I asked!" she chuckles, and Evie simply laughs at the overwhelmed girl across from her. "Okay, how about we talk about something else," Mal decides. "What do you miss the most about Columbia?" she inquires after a moment of thought. To that, Evie looks to the ceiling for an answer. She hums in contemplation.

"Well right now, I really miss the sun," she decides. Laughter reverberates between the girls. Mal sighs.

"Yeah, what Auradon lacks in sunshine in the fall and winter it's people make up for twofold with their personalities!" she adds, faux excitement coating her voice. Evie's answering giggle is earnest.

"Yeah, I've noticed that the people around here are very...cheery," she answers. After a moment, she adds "What about you?" Mal's body stiffens. "What brings you to Auradon?" Evie clarifies. Mal chews her food for a moment and then sighs.

"Well, I'm here to study art. It's always kind of been my escape," she admits. "Auradon's tuition is kind of a nightmare, but thankfully, I was admitted with a full tourney scholarship along with my best friend, Jay," Mal continues, and Evie can't picture the tiny girl playing a sport that can get so rough. "We both have part time jobs here on campus to help Carlos attend Auradon with us. Our parents aren't really supportive of us, but we don't want their help anyway," Mal continues, finishing up her tacos. Evie's heart melts from the admission. Knowing how much the boys mean to the girl, she nearly regrets making Mal leave them behind. The mental picture of the boys' faces covered in sauce earlier that day at lunch, however, reminds her that she stands by her decision. Maybe another time, when she didn't want Mal alone.

Evie's thoughts are interrupted by the sight of Mal's body going completely still. The girl's empty fork is inches from her face and her eyebrows are furrowed. The haze in her eyes informs Evie that the girl is not mentally present. "Mal?" she says hesitantly, leaning into the girl's field of vision. Green eyes quickly find red-brown, and Mal is snapped out of her stupor. The girl clears her throat a little, and reaches for her soda.

"Yeah?" she squeaks before draining about half her glass in one gulp. Evie's eyebrows rise.

"Are you okay?" she inquires. The bottom of the cup harshly collides with the table.

"Yeah, I'm fi-" Mal starts, but is cut short by a cough. Green eyes go wide and frantically search their surroundings. The longer they scurry around, the more wet they become. Her complexion is also beginning to redden.

"Are you sure? Mal-are you crying?" Evie asks, head ducking down to get a better look.

"What? No, I'm fine, I swear," Mal assures between coughs, but a tear sliding down her cheek betrays her. Evie surveys the table and finds an indent on Mal's side of the loaded nachos. Nachos loaded with queso, salsa, jalapeños, and hot sauce, among other things. It suddenly clicks. She quickly places her glass of milk in front of the increasingly uncomfortable girl. Mal doesn't even register the motion, looking on the verge of a panic.

"Mal, drink!" Evie commands, pushing the glass closer. The distressed girl quickly accepts the drink, and its contents are drained in no time. Once finished, the girl sits back and tries to catch her breath. Evie settles back into her seat and crosses her arms, smug grin creeping slowly across her face.

"Too hot to handle?" she inquires after Mal appears collected enough to take some blows to her pride. Mal sputters.

"Pfft, no, I just-I just had a chip caught in my throat," she explains excitedly, hand waving into the air. Evie is not buying any of it. She casually unearths a chip from the pile and takes a large, unladylike bite. Mal's wide eyes look on in disbelief. Evie moans dramatically, and she takes her time sucking the sauce off her fingers. Mal's eyes are firmly trained on her mouth.

"You know what would be really good on this?" she asks. Mal's head shakes silently. "Devil's spit," Evie answers, eyes glancing at the hot sauce perched on the table. Mal eyes the three skull and crossbones symbols adorning the label with uncertainty. "You wouldn't mind if I put some on, would you?" Evie asks, eyes daring Mal to protest. The girl's throat bobs. She steels herself and shakes her head again. Evie takes that as a no, and busies herself generously applying the extra hot sauce to the nachos. It's not like Mal is going to eat any of the rest of it anyway. She then takes another large bite and revels in the kick of the flavors. Mal's face remains expressionless. "You've gotta try it!" Evie exclaims, grabbing a particularly coated chip and holding it across the table and up to Mal's mouth.

Mal inhales through her nose and leans in to bite the chip. Evie's eyes increase nearly twice in size at the action, and she wastes no time in taking her empty milk cup and running off. Mal doesn't even notice because she feels like someone literally set her mouth on fire. This must be what dragons feel like, she muses through her panic. Before the inside of her mouth and throat completely erode, Evie is dutifully in front of her with two full cups of milk. Mal takes them graciously and downs them with ease. By the time she's done she's got a milk moustache, but Evie doesn't have the heart to embarrass her further by informing her.

"Are you trying to kill me?" she asks Evie calmly, and the other girl can't contain her giggles.

"I didn't think you'd actually do it!" she exclaims, hand attempting to conceal her smile. Evie's laughter is infections, and soon Mal is joining in.

"I never back down from a challenge," she claims, chest inflating with pride. Evie takes in the girl before her and nods.

"I believe that"


End file.
